Prenatal psychological distress is associated with altered placental extracellular vesicle quantity among pregnant women

Abstract

Abstract Maternal prenatal psychological distress appears to alter fetal and postnatal offspring development. However, little is known about how the placenta responds to maternal psychological distress. In order to elucidate the biomechanism behind these patterns, we investigate the relationship of psychological distress with placental extracellular vesicles (pEVs). The recently uncovered role of pEVs in cell-to-cell communication affords us the opportunity to evaluate the activity of placenta cells in vivo at the maternal-fetal interface. Here, we employ novel methods to track pEVs across pregnancy in a cohort of N = 41 pregnant Latina women. We measure prenatal anxiety and depression using self-report psychometric questionnaires and quantify pEVs using immunoaffinity capture with human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-G at two timepoints in early-gestation µ = 12.4 weeks (SD = 2.7) and later-gestation µ = 25.2 weeks (SD = 3.0). Using multiple linear regression models, we find both maternal anxiety (ß= -0.13; robust SE = 0.06; p-value = 0.043) and depression (ß= -0.11; robust SE = 0.05; p-value = 0.023) in early-pregnancy relate to fewer pEVs later in gestation. The association of anxiety and depression with lower pEVs suggests that maternal psychological distress may dampen placental signaling. This work elucidates part of the biological cascade that links psychological distress and adverse birth and developmental outcomes.